Welcome to the Saturday Morning Physics Website!
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Click on this link for the Winter 2025 Saturday Morning Physics schedule in mid-January to discover stimulating, educational, and family-friendly scientific events!
Each lecture begins promptly at 10:30 AM and runs until 11:30 AM, with a half-hour Q&A afterward. Our full schedule can also be seen below (as information is available):
October 5: Comics About Science, From Feynman to Einstein: Math is Hard & Leaving Stuff Out is Harder
Jim Ottaviani, Comics Writer, U-M Nuclear Engineering Alum (U-M Librarian Emeritus)
Whether you're applying for funding or discussing your work with a friend or colleague, science always involves storytelling. Using comics to tell those stories may seem weird when you first hear about them, but they're a natural fit for introducing people to the passion, beauty, and joy of discovery. Even with both words and images at your disposal, though, you never get to give the whole picture…
Join us in person or via live stream link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffQVr5eEp8M
October 19: The Science of Election Security
J. Alex Halderman (U-M Bredt Family Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Director, Center for Computer Security and Society)
Modern high-tech elections must defend against both real cybersecurity threats and false hacking claims. Learn how scientists and public officials have been working to keep them trustworthy and what risks most concern the experts heading into November.
Join us in person or via live stream link: https://youtu.be/_Wk09ZNrpAc
November 2: Climate Change in the Great Lakes: Effects on Algal Blooms and Human Health
Gregory Dick, Director of the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, Alfred F. Thurnau Professor (U-M Earth & Environmental Sciences and School for Environment and Sustainability)
Harmful algal blooms affect freshwater worldwide, threatening drinking water, recreation, and the lakes we love. Climate change is making them worse, but we are only beginning to understand their effects on human health.
Join us in person or via live stream link: https://youtu.be/DUZwol19Z5c
November 16: Galaxy Clusters: Special Fields in the Sky, Special Challenges for Our Science
Camille Avestruz, Assistant Professor (U-M Physics)
Galaxy clusters are made of hundreds to thousands of galaxies. They can tell us about the history and contents of our universe--but we need to find them and weigh them.
Join us in person or via live stream link: https://youtu.be/xsgjUETAhKA
We celebrate the Pulikeshi Dayalu Astrophysics Fund on this date!
November 23: AI and the Business World
Nigel Melville, Associate Professor of Information Systems (U-M Ross Business School)
Modern AI brings new benefits, costs, and risks to business organizations. This creates challenges as they try to adopt AI to achieve goals while avoiding harm and damage. I'll discuss findings from my research proposing a new framing of AI as a set of machine capabilities, share what I'm learning from industry engagements, and describe an innovative interdisciplinary initiative here at U-M that's asking the Big Questions about AI.
Join us in person or via live stream link: https://youtu.be/wZEmzD4oEuY
About Saturday Morning Physics
Physics is a fundamental science and provides the foundations for solving both cosmic mysteries and practical problems. In 1995, the University of Michigan Department of Physics began sharing some of the latest ideas in the field with the public in the Saturday Morning Physics lecture series.
Designed for general audiences, the lectures are an opportunity to hear physicists discuss their work in easy-to-understand, non-technical terms. The multimedia presentations include hands-on demonstrations of the principles discussed, along with slides, video, and computer simulations.
Saturday Morning Physics in-person lectures or online lectures!
Lectures are held in 170 & 182 auditoriums in Weiser Hall (low-rise)
500 Church Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Parking is available at the Church Street Parking Structure for $10.00/car with only credit cards accepted.
Event Details
The Saturday Morning Physics lecture series is free to all. We are hosting in-person and virtual talks this winter. Please join our mailing list for more information.
How to Receive Information about Upcoming Programming
If you would like updates on this series, sign up to be placed on the Saturday Morning Physics mailing list. Due to monetary constraints, we would like to send you programming information via email only.
Sponsors
The Saturday Morning Physics program is sponsored by:
The Dr. Mary Lois Tiffany Endowment by Dr. O. Lyle Tiffany and Dr. M. Lois Tiffany who were the first to support the Saturday Morning Physics program in May, 2000.
The Hideko Tomozawa Endowment in memory of Hideko Tomozawa in recognition of her interest and loyal participation in the Saturday Morning Physics program.
The Van Loo Family Endowment to support outstanding University students who present public lectures at Saturday Morning Physics.
Friends of the Program-Donations of all sizes are needed to keep this program alive!
How to Donate
Donations to the Saturday Morning Physics Program help fund these informative academic presentations. Show your support for the program by donating online.
U-M Staff and Faculty can donate to Saturday Morning Physics by using University Payroll Deduction on Wolverine Access. Please use designation #365045.
You may also make cash, check, or credit card donations at each Saturday Morning program. Please stop by the back greeting table to pick up a donation slip.
Remember, donations to SMP are tax-deductible in the year in which they are given.
View SMP Lectures
Learn how to view the Saturday Morning Physics talks after the lecture date.
Information about previous SMP talks can be found in the Past Events section of this website.
Download your group photo from the 10/7/23 event with Josh Cassada!
Articles about the Josh Cassada event:
NASA astronaut shares his experience in space with UM physics class
NASA Astronaut Josh Cassada discusses space station mission in UM talk (Pictorial)
NASA Astronaut Shares Experience of Spacewalks and Near-Impact Incident with UM Physics Class
